Bag of popcorn already had the dollar bill in it. Kid gets a bill from Howie and makes a switch with a fake (albeit a very good one) bill that has the same serial # as the real one in the popcorn bag. Howard reads serial #. Kid switches fake bill with flash paper bill while folding it. Hocus-pocus, open the bag, serial # matches. Return that bill to Howie, or switches that bill with the one originally received from Howie and gives that one back.

Did it rather well, however it was done.

And couldn't that first guy have dressed a little better for this??? No need to go to a tux or anything, but dude, really bad jeans and a stupid 'check out receipt' T-shirt??? Didn't like that aspect at all.

Bag of popcorn already had the dollar bill in it. Kid gets a bill from Howie and makes a switch with a fake (albeit a very good one) bill that has the same serial # as the real one in the popcorn bag. Howard reads serial #. Kid switches fake bill with flash paper bill while folding it. Hocus-pocus, open the bag, serial # matches. Return that bill to Howie, or switches that bill with the one originally received from Howie and gives that one back.

Did it rather well, however it was done.

Spoiler for a question:

Spoiler:

So do you think that Nick was in on it (Nick: "He's taking my snacks"), or that the magician happened to be using the same brand/size snacks that they were providing to Nick? Seems a bit suspect to me. Very good trick either way, though.

So do you think that Nick was in on it (Nick: "He's taking my snacks"), or that the magician happened to be using the same brand/size snacks that they were providing to Nick? Seems a bit suspect to me. Very good trick either way, though.

Spoiler:

I don't think those were actually Nick's snacks at all, just another one of those silly things Nick says in his 'duties' as ringmaster. I didn't take a close look at the bag, but I didn't immediately recognize it as something I knew. I just figured it could be either (a) a regional brand of something that I wouldn't know about in the Midwest or (b) a generic 'popcorn' snack bag or something like that - along the lines of a pop can that says "Cola" on it. The guy's own prop that he brought with him, not something he just found there and chose to utilize.

i just watched this trick and he took the bill and immediately held it up to the camera and the serial number matched what was read. There wasn't any cut away, so I don't see how he could have swapped the bill. I'm not saying he couldn't have, but even in slow mo it didn't show (or they cut part of the act).

I don't watch this show, but I saw something on the young man singing opera, this morning, so I found the video and watched him.

Love him! These are the stories that I love and, of course, his talent is brilliant. I cried. I don't know what the song was about but it sounded so tragic. I hope he has every success after having to deal with the awfulness of his 'family' in tossing him out for being gay. I loved how Howie said they were his family now and they are very proud of him.

Con te Partiro (loosely translated in the English version as "Time to say Goodbye" but a literal translation of the title is "I will go with you".) Andrea Boccelli and Sarah Brightman have both recorded it.

Agreed, and that's my biggest complaint about the show. I don't need 5 minutes of backstory on contestants in the first round (which Idol is also famous for). They should be showing parts of 30 acts per hour. Just show the acts. Frustrating.

I agree, and it would kill me to have to watch this without a DVR and/or to watch it without doing something else, like playing with an ipad during the backstories.

The content-to-noise ratio of the auditions in poor and getting poorer. I thought in the beginning of the series we were able to see many more acts than we do now.

I also noticed last week a lack of "bad" acts. It's taking some of the suspense out of it, I no longer wonder if each act is going to be good or bad, but generally assume it's going to be good. The exception is a rapid-fire assortment of 4 bad acts, usually timed for the middle of the episode. It's becoming too predictable.

Quote:

Originally Posted by pmeyers

I hear ya! I also find it uncomfortable to watch 10 year olds doing dances like the samba and other "sexy" latin dances. I just don't like it.

I dislike almost all of the acts with kids. They're almost universally a kid doing something well that you would expect the kid to not be able to do. It's not the "best talent" in America; it's average talent from an unexpected source.

I feel the same way about people-who-don't-look-like-opera-singers-singing-opera, now a recurring theme on the show. They aren't really good opera singers. They're just average singers with an unconventional physical appearance for the genre.

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